Mysterious Apple Tech Supplier Liquidmetal Begins Shipping

Liquidmetal, a materials company which has licensed its entire portfolio to Apple, said Wednesday that it has began shipments of its commercial parts to customers last December.

Liquidmetal made waves in 2010 when its IP subsidiary agreed to give Apple a "perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid, exclusive license to commercialize such intellectual property in the field of consumer electronic products in exchange for a license fee," with Liquidmetal allowed to license the technology to other manufacturers in other industries.

Liquidmetal merely announced that its "its manufacturing operations are currently in the midst of shipping commercial parts to several of its customers world-wide," and that those shipments had begun last December. The disclosure also came on the same day that Apple announced the new iPad, leading to some speculation that it might be built out of the new material. However, PCMag.com's Michael Muchmore said that the new iPad appeared to be made out of the same materials as previous generations, at least on the surface.

"We are very excited about the use of amorphous alloy technology to deliver stronger, lighter, and more corrosion resistant parts to our customers in varying industries globally," chief executive Tom Steipp said in a statement. "These initial shipments represent a significant milestone in our efforts to provide a new class of materials for our customers to consider when designing complex parts."

Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Liquidmetal claims that its material combines the properties of plastics with the ultra-rigidity of metals.

"This very unique combination of superior properties in the domain of high-strength metals and the fabrication characteristics of plastics positions the family of Liquidmetal alloys as the new paradigm in materials science," the company claims. "This revolutionary material will enable applications that will render obsolete current technology based on materials from titanium to plastic."

"One of the most unique characteristics of Liquidmetal alloys is the availability of its superior mechanical properties in as-cast form," Liquidmetal claims. "This is in distinct contrast to conventional metals where the as-cast forms have inferior mechanical properties compared to their wrought and forged forms, which limits the fabrication of intricate and sophisticated designs.

"The solidification of Liquidmetal alloys shows fundamentally distinct characteristics compared to the solidification of ordinary metals. This is due to the lack of phase transformation from the molten metal state during solidification. In addition, Liquidmetal alloys have very low melting temperature relative to their constituent metals. As a result, it is possible to fabricate Liquidmetal alloys in intricate and sophisticated designs without costly post-finishing processes."